Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker has claimed that there were up to six players this season who were like "cancers" within the team's locker room.
A disappointing campaign saw the Titans end with a losing 7-9 record in the AFC South, while head coach Mike Munchak was fired for their poor efforts.
However, Walker has stated that it was the poor attitude of a select few which helped drag the team down, rather than the coach.
He told ESPN: "When we started losing more games, we got to see it more and more, it was just like it was falling apart. And the players that were the cancer were dragging other players into that box with them, and the box was getting bigger and bigger.
"At first, it was just a small box. The box just got bigger and bigger. Everybody saw it. Some of the guys that were the cancer, they really didn't care. They'd be happy to get up on out from the organization.
"But the new coaches are going to see what type of players that want to be here and don't want to be here, and he's going to get rid of them. Hopefully that's the type of coach Ken Whisenhunt is."
Whisenhunt was named as the new head coach just 10 days after Munchak's departure.